Infrared photodissociation of mass-selected molecular clusters

Abstract

By combining the method of size selection of clusters by momentum transfer in a scattering experiment with a helium beam with the absorption of infrared photons from a CO₂ laser, the photodissociation spectra of weakly bound clusters have been measured as a function of the cluster size. Results are presented for clusters of methanol, acetonitrile and hydrazine from the dimer to the hexamer and for fixed complexes of ethene and acetone. From the measured lineshift and linewidth, which depend sensitively on the cluster size, the excited mode and the investigated species detailed information on the structure and the dynamics of these systems is obtained.